


Welcome back

by Ailendolin



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, Thor (Movies), Thor - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Avengers: Infinity War Spoilers, Gen, Hurt Loki (Marvel), Mind Control, Post-Thor: Ragnarok (2017), Psychological Torture, Torture
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-04
Updated: 2017-12-04
Packaged: 2019-02-10 14:00:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,129
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12913377
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ailendolin/pseuds/Ailendolin
Summary: I have been looking for you. You owe me something, Loki."I owe you nothing!"In the end, Thanos always wins and Loki always loses. This time, he isn't the only one to face the consequences.





	Welcome back

**Author's Note:**

> So, here is my take on Loki's two seconds in the Avengers: Infinity War trailer. I'm sure I'm not the only one who noticed that Loki didn't look exactly willing when he held up the Tesseract, and this is my take on that scene along with the fates of the Hulk und Thor as well.
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters mentioned here. They are the property of Marvel.

**Welcome back**

_I have been looking for you._

The words echoed in Loki’s head as he stared out of the window at Thanos’s ship. He felt the familiar probing touches of the titan in his mind, gone for years but never forgotten, and took a staggering step backwards as he pressed both his hands tightly against his head.

 _You know there is no escape_ , Thanos went on calmly, deadly. He sounded amused. _You can run and you can hide from yourself and the people around you – but not from me. Never from me._

Loki knew it was true. Over the last few years he had desperately tried to forget about the Mad Titan and his promise to find him. Not even in Asgard’s most secure prison cells had he felt safe from Thanos’s reach. Now, here on a tiny spaceship in the middle of nowhere, he felt utterly exposed and claustrophobic at the same time as he frantically tried to come up with a plan to get his people out of this situation. Panic seized him as he watched Thanos’s ship move closer and realized they had already run out of time.

 _You owe me something, Loki,_ Thanos reminded him, the words slashing like daggers through his thoughts.

Loki pressed his hands tighter to his head as if that gesture could possibly lessen the pain. He knew what Thanos wanted just as much as he knew he could not give up the Tesseract, no matter what torture or pain lay in wait for him. More than anyone else he was aware of its powers and the possibilities they would grant the titan. The reason he took it from Asgard’s vaults in the first place before Surtr destroyed his home was to keep it safe from Thanos. He couldn’t risk the Tesseract becoming lost in the vastness of the universe after the explosion, unprotected and easy for Thanos to find. Now, with Thanos right in front of him Loki realized the fault in his thinking. As most of his plans it seemed this one had been doomed to fail from the start as well. In taking the Tesseract he had led Thanos directly to their ship, endangering his brother and their people in the process instead of keeping them safe. It was only a matter time until he would be completely back under Thanos’s mind control and the titan could order him to hand over the Tesseract. The only hope Loki had left was to fight and distract him long enough to come up with a plan to get Thor and their people out of harm’s way.

“I owe you nothing,” Loki hissed out even though everything in him screamed at him not to defy the titan.

The heads of the people around him turned to him. Thor’s eyes locked onto his for a heartbeat, confusion and dawning realization clear in his brother’s gaze. Before Loki could say anything to explain himself the pain in his mind increased until dark patches appeared in his vision. His head felt like it was being split apart and he screamed.

 _You owe me everything!_ Thanos’s voice thundered through his mind.

Loki fell to his knees. He was dimly aware of Thor rushing to his side and kneeling down in front of him. Blindly, he reached for his brother’s hands. “He is coming,” he gasped just as their ship shook.

Panicked screams filled the room and Loki heard children crying out in fear. He pushed against the agony in his mind and looked up at Thor. “He is looking for the Tesseract,” he pressed out against gritted teeth.

Thor shook his head vehemently. “You cannot give it to him, Loki.”

“I don’t think I’ll have a choice,” he whispered. “He is already inside my head.”

Behind them, the doors burst open and Thanos’s soldiers swept into the room. Their people, though woefully unprepared for this situation, did their best to fend them off with the help of the Valkyrie and the Hulk. It was a futile attempt, Loki knew, but he felt proud of them nonetheless.

“Come on, brother, we have to help them,” Thor urged, drawing Loki back to his feet.

“I can’t,” Loki hissed. He felt Thanos’s presence coming closer and stood rooted to the spot, damned to watch his people fight for their lives and unable to help. “He won’t let me. I’m sorry.”

Thor looked at him with so much sorrow that Loki felt his eyes begin to sting. “It is not your fault.”

Then, with a last quick embrace that felt like goodbye, Thor joined the fight and left him behind. Helplessly, Loki watched him go, straining against invisible bonds that kept him in place.

Under normal circumstances Thor was already a force to be reckoned with. Now, cornered and with his people’s lives on the line, he was a vision to behold. Still, for every soldier he killed two more came into the room until, at last, Thanos stepped inside. Loki felt the titan’s hold on his mind increase along with the pain and blinked against the dots in his vision.

Across the room Thanos smiled at him and Loki felt the blood in his veins run cold. Without breaking eye contact Thanos unleashed his power. The whole room shook, the lights stuttered and screams of agony rang out. When the dust settled and the lights flickered back to life Loki stood before a sea of bodies. While Thanos’s soldiers seemed unaffected most Asgardians were lying on the ground, some moving, most eerily still. Moans of pain alerted Thanos’s soldiers to those still alive and they silently walked among what remained of the Aesir and killed everyone who moved.

Thanos laughed, and Loki felt ill as he watched Thor struggle to get back to his feet.

In front of him, a young girl stared at Loki with big disoriented eyes, unable to comprehend what was going on. Blood was dripping from her brow and she was cradling a broken hand close to her chest. Behind her, Loki saw one of the soldiers slowly creeping closer. Panic and rage swirled in Loki’s mind and with a scream he broke Thanos’s hold over him just long enough to tackle the soldier to the ground. He didn’t have his knives and his thoughts were too jumbled to use his seiꝺr but he gave everything he got for as long as he could and hit the soldier with his bare hands, again and again.

It didn’t last long. His hand was stopped in mid-air as Thanos regained his control over him. The soldier at Loki’s feet looked up and snarled before he punched Loki so hard he flew backwards. For a moment Loki’s vision blackened as he gasped for breath. A high-pitched cry pierced through the dizziness in his head and Loki didn’t have to look to know what had happened. He had failed, and his heart ached as he closed his eyes in grief.

“Every failure has consequences,” Thanos said coldly. “Now give me the Tesseract, Loki.”

“No,” Loki hissed as he fought against the titan’s power as well as his tears.

To Loki’s surprise, Thanos laughed. “No? How about a little incentive, then?”

Against his will, Loki turned his head. On the other side of the room, Thanos’s hand closed around Thor until it held his brother like a ragdoll.

Loki panicked. “Don’t hurt him!”

Thanos smiled cruelly. “Give me the Tesseract and I won’t.”

Thor shook his head. “No, Loki. I am not worth it.”

“That is where you are wrong,” the titan said conversationally as he raised Thor so he could look him in the eye. “You are all he has left. You are worth everything to him.”

Loki bit his lip as his struggles faltered. Thanos was right. Loki couldn’t risk Thor’s life, not even for the sake of the universe, however illogical that was. It was his one big weakness and Thanos knew it, had known it for years. Loki had known the Tesseract had been lost the moment Thanos’s ship appeared before them – had known that he wouldn’t stand a chance against the titan’s control over him, especially not with Thor and their people involved. He should have given up the Tesseract immediately. Maybe then Thanos would have spared their lives. All he could hope to do now was prevent more death.

“I will give it to you,” he finally said, “under one condition. You go and leave us be.”

“Deal,” Thanos grinned.

Loki knew a lie when he saw one but he had no choice but to trust Thanos to hold up his end of the bargain. His eyes briefly flickered to Thor before he materialized the Tesseract in his hand. ‘Forgive me, brother,’ he thought as he brought the universe one step closer to the brink of extinction.

Thanos’s eyes widened gleefully. “Finally.” They shifted back to Loki. “But you will still face the consequences of your actions, Loki. You should know that by now.”

That was all the warning Loki got before Thanos raised his arm and threw Thor right through the nearest wall and into space, lost in a heartbeat.

Loki didn’t think, he just reacted. Using as much seiꝺr as he dared he erected a protective shield around himself and what remained of his people so they wouldn’t suffocate and be sucked into space. Simultaneously he opened up a portal with the Tesseract, bringing to mind the shape of the mansion of Midgard’s sorcerer, and pushed the Hulk through with the force of his magic in the hopes that the monster could aid Thor’s friends in the upcoming fight. The moment the Hulk was through Loki opened up another portal and used what little strength he had left to send those of his people that were still alive through it, hoping they’d be safe and out of harm’s way in the remoteness of Norway, even if only for a little while.

Thanos roared in anger and the pain and pressure in Loki’s mind reached a new height but Loki fought back. He knew there was nothing he could do for Thor now, no matter how much this realization pained him, but he could hold on long enough to see his people to safety. When the last person was through the portal, another little girl still clutching a plush bear in her hands, he closed it and allowed Thanos’s wrath to tear through him. It ripped him apart at the seams but he didn’t care. The grief he felt at the loss of his brother was greater than any pain Thanos could make him suffer. Let the Mad Titan do with him what he wanted. He had nothing left to lose.

“You will pay for this,” Thanos promised.

Loki watched as his hand holding the Tesseract was raised against his will. Feebly, he made one last attempt to struggle against Thanos’s control but he stood no chance. In the end Thanos simply reached for the Tesseract, and then it was over. Loki had failed just as he had always done and the universe was one step closer to being destroyed. Not for the first time in his life Loki wished he’d been left to die on Jotunheim all those centuries ago. The Realms would have been a happier place for it.

Loki closed his eyes and waited for the final blow, longing for everything to just stop.  

It didn’t come.

“Oh no, death is not for you, Loki Odinson,” Thanos growled. “You will serve your time, and make up for your failure.”

Unimaginable pain pierced through him as Loki felt Thanos taking full control of his mind and body. He watched himself walk up to the titan and follow him back onto his ship, a prisoner in his own body doomed to trail after his torturer.

Thanos only stopped when they arrived on the bridge. “Set a course for Midgard,” he commanded as he sat down in his control chair. With a beckoning motion, Thanos told Loki to come closer. Another wordless command, and Loki was on his knees before him. “How does it feel, being utterly alone once more without even the slightest possibility of anyone coming to your aid?”

Loki blinked and felt moisture trailing down his face. He thought of Odin, gone because he sent him to Midgard. He thought of his mother, always so gentle and unwavering in her love, gone because he hadn’t been by her side when she needed him most. Finally, he thought of Thor, lost in space as he himself had once been, helpless and fated to fall for all eternity because Loki couldn’t save him. He had failed all of them.

Thanos laughed.

“Welcome back, Loki.”

Pain engulfed him and Loki screamed.


End file.
